July 2006

We have opened a further 20 realms for the Paid Character Transfer service, bringing the total number of eligible realms to 36! You can find the complete list of eligible realms here and find the answers to many of your questions in our Paid Character Transfer F.A.Q.

To start transferring your characters, just login to the Account Management section and click the Paid Character Transfer button. Please note that the Paid Character Transfer service may be unavailable during the scheduled weekly maintenance.

We're happy to announce the Xfire-sponsored World of Warcraft Summer Movie Contest. Players are being called on to create movies, set in Azeroth, in one of four main categories: Dance, Comedy, Drama, and Two-Minute Short. This is a great way for up-and-coming directors to display their movie-making skills. Over $20,000 worth of prizes will be awarded to the best entries.

Interested? Click here to learn more.

As we draw closer to the release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, more of the secrets shrouding the draenei and blood elves are being revealed. In the upcoming expansion, players will finally be able to play classes that were previously unavailable to their faction: the blood elves have harnessed the power of the Light for their own needs, supporting the Horde with renegade blood elf paladins. Meanwhile, the draenei have been granted the wisdom and strength of the elements, and some among the newest members of the Alliance now follow the path of the shaman.

Take a look at our new page to learn more about the new class combinations available to players of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

We are happy to announce that we have now added German, French and Spanish language forums to the existing English beta test forums. To test these new forums to their limits we have made our regular forums temporarily read-only, with the exception of the technical support forum, so head over, take a look and make lots of posts!

We have opened a further 12 realms for the Paid Character Transfer service. This service allows characters to be transferred to other realms, or between accounts with the same original registered owner. Take a look at our Paid Character Transfer F.A.Q to learn more about this service. You can currently transfer characters from the following realms:

Aggramar, Arathor, Argent Dawn, Azshara, Blackhand, Blackrock, Die Silberne Hand, Draenor, Earthen Ring, Frostmane, Grim Batol, Hyjal, Kirin Tor, Skullcrusher, Spinebreaker and Terenas.

To start transferring your characters, just login to the Account Management section and click the Paid Character Transfer button. Please note that the Paid Character Transfer service may be unavailable during the scheduled weekly maintenance.

One of the most exciting new features of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will be the introduction of a new kind of mount: a flying one! Flying mounts will provide players with unprecedented freedom to explore the world of Outland from an entirely new perspective and allow them to access otherwise unreachable content.

Take a look at our Flying Mounts: Nether Drakes page to learn more about this exciting upcoming feature and be sure to download the great new trailer it features!

The public test realms are live! Players can now try out some of the changes and additions coming in World of Warcraft's latest content patch: Drums of War. The highlights of this patch include cross-realm battlegrounds, the rogue talent update, and world player-vs.-player objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands. Read the Drums of War test realm patch notes to learn more.

Players who had an active account as of 09:01 CEST Tuesday, July 11th can participate in the test realms by using one of the pre-made level 60 character which are available. To copy a character and download the test realm game client, visit our Public Test Realm page, after reading our Test Realm F.A.Q.

For this phase of testing, we would like players to focus on cross-realm battlegrounds. The world PvP objectives in Silithus and Eastern Plaguelands are still in development and will be patched during the testing process.

We are happy to announce the launch of the Paid Character Transfer service for World of Warcraft in Europe! This service allows characters to be transferred to other realms, or between accounts with the same original registered owner. Take a look at our Paid Character Transfer F.A.Q to learn more about this new service.

The initial launch of the Paid Character Transfer service will only allow transfers between a limited set of realms. You can now transfer characters from the following realms:

• Azshara
• Grim Batol
• Kirin Tor
• Spinebreaker

We'll gradually scale up the list of realms to accommodate more players as quickly as possible. To start transferring your characters, just login to the Account Management section and click the Paid Character Transfer button. Please note that the Paid Character Transfer service may be unavailable during the scheduled weekly maintenance.

We have just added three more pages to the Troll Compendium. Learn more about the sand trolls and their tribe, the Sandfury, as well as the dark trolls and a gathering of trolls under Zanzil the Outcast. Uncover the story of the Zandalar tribe, the earliest troll tribe.

This is the final update to this section so take a moment to check it out!

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will introduce a lot of new features to expand the game in many interesting and fun ways. One of these additions is the introduction of a new profession: jewelcrafting.

Jewelcrafters learn the art of creating beautiful jewelry and trinkets from metals and rare gems. By processing the raw ore mined from the various deposits and mineral veins, jewelcrafters can extract gems from the ore which they can then use for their craft. You can learn more about this new profession and can even view an Item Socketing demo on our new Jewelcrafting page!

We have just added a preview talent calculator with the updates to the rogue talents coming in patch 1.12. You can now view these changes on our Rogue Talent Calculator Preview. Keep an eye on our In Development section for more information about all of the changes coming in patch 1.12!

No need to check your URL or adjust your monitor, the WoW Europe website has an epic new look! You will still be able to find all of the features and content which you are accustomed to but you'll now be able to find them even faster with our intuitive new design.

With more information than ever on one page at your disposal, an enhanced menu and some great new features, we hope you’ll enjoy the new homepage!

We have just added two more pages to the Troll Compendium. Learn more about the ice trolls and their tribes. Uncover the history of the Drakkari, the Frostmane, and the Winterax tribes.

We will be updating this section regularly so keep an eye on it for more information.

June 2006

The bestiary page for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has been updated with one new creature from the upcoming expansion. Learn more about the eredar, one of the oldest known races in the universe and the vanguard of an unstoppable, demonic army bent on universal annihilation: the Burning Legion. Check out the updated bestiary now!

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Orgrimmar.

We have just added two more pages to the Troll Compendium. Learn more about the jungle trolls and their tribes. Uncover the history of the Bloodscalp, the Darkspear, the Gurubashi, the Skullsplitter, the Shatterspear, the Atal'ai faction, and the Hakkari priests.

We will be updating this section regularly so keep an eye on it for more information.

Blizzard Europe is looking for a highly motivated Web Designer with excellent technical skills to join our Web Design team and be part of Blizzard Entertainment Europe. If you are passionate about Blizzard games and have several years of experience in a similar post, take a look at our jobs page, read our Recruitment F.A.Q, and then send in your C.V with a cover letter!

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Moonglade. We have also updated the European Blizzard Fan Art Gallery with two new pieces of art.

The bestiary page for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has been updated with one new creature from the upcoming expansion. Learn more about the eredar, one of the oldest known races in the universe and the vanguard of an unstoppable, demonic army bent on universal annihilation: the Burning Legion. Check out the updated bestiary now!

We have just added two more pages to the Troll Compendium. Learn more about the forest trolls and their tribes. Uncover the history of the Revantusk, the Witherbark, the Smolderthorn, the Vilebranch, the Mossflayer, the Firetree, and the Amani.

We will be updating this section regularly so keep an eye on it for more information.

The latest content patch, Shadow of the Necropolis has arrived! As the necropolis of Naxxramas hovers over the Eastern Plaguelands and the Scourge launch their invasion throughout Azeroth, heroes of both the Horde and Alliance join in the latest battle for their lands. Mages and shamans receive a boost to their powers to help them fight off their enemies. Also with this update, the denizens of Azeroth will uncover:

• The Scourge Invasion
• Naxxramas
• New Armor Sets
• Mage and Shaman Talent Updates
• Keyrings

The inhabitants of Azeroth will also be able to receive new quest, reputation, and honor rewards:

• The Argent Dawn
• The Cenarion Circle
• The Zandalar Tribe
• Warsong Gulch
• New PvP Weapons
• Updated Stats for the PvP Armor Sets

To learn what else awaits you beneath the shadow of the necropolis, check out the patch notes!

The maintenance on Wednesday June 21st will be extended due to deployment of patch 1.11: Shadow of the Necropolis. All realms will be unavailable from 03:00 to 12:00 CEST.

Additionally we will be performing an authentication update during the maintenance. Due to this, the authentication (login) will be unavailable from midnight to noon on Wednesday for anybody who has not been logged in today (Tuesday).

Due to the authentication update the account creation, management pages (including character migration pages) and forums will also be unavailable during this time.

The Midsummer Fire Festival is almost upon us! All across Azeroth, brilliant bonfires have been lit to rekindle the spirits of its celebrants and ward off ancient evils. A celebration of flame, it is rumored that adventurers who are willing to brave the hardships and dangers of Azeroth's dungeons may learn to harness the power of the flames...

We're in the final stages of development for our new World of Warcraft forums, and we need your help to make sure everything is bolted on tight. The new forums will offer the same great place for World of Warcraft players to congregate and discuss the game, but with a new look and some new features. Go check them out, and while you're there, please provide us with bug reports and any other comments you have. Please note that all of our current forums will remain live while we beta test these new forums.

Have you ever wanted to learn more about the trolls? Spent hours trying to determine whether or not the night elves are related to the trolls? If so, then you'll enjoy the detailed history of the trolls provided in this section. Here you can learn about the troll traits, early troll civilization, the trolls and the Horde, and even read about the theory that night elves and trolls are related...

Within the coming weeks, we will be adding pages about the various categories of trolls such as the sand trolls, ice trolls, jungle trolls, and forest trolls, as well as the individual history of all of the troll tribes: the Atal'ai, the Darkspear, the Bloodscalp, and others.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring The Burning Steppes.

We are happy to announce our new Community Events page! On this page, you can see all of the in-game and real life events submitted by the community. Additionally, if you are planning to host an in-game or real life event, and want to tell your fellow players about it, you can submit it to us using this webform. Please take a moment to check Community Events FAQ and to read this thread.

The bestiary page for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has been updated with one new creature from the upcoming expansion. Learn more about Fel Orcs, savage warriors, corrupted by a new source of fel energy, who just recently appeared in Outland. Check out the updated bestiary now!

At around 18:00 hours in the evening of June 11th one of the World of Warcraft sites started experiencing environmental issues which resulted in overheating of the hardware. These escalated while the problem was being located, and around 22:00 CEST the entire site had to be shut down to avoid extensive hardware damage. The issue was investigated further on-site by our partner Telia and was resolved the following morning. During the following hardware testing some equipment was found to have malfunctioned. After replacing this equipment and diligently testing all parts of the site the realms were brought back online at approximately 18:00 CEST.

Due to this interruption in game-play all players affected will have 2 days game time credited to their account. This additional game time will be added within the coming weeks. You can find the full list of the realms affected here.

We would like to apologise for this unexpected downtime and thank you for your patience and understanding.

We have updated our Argent Dawn page with details of some of the rewards added in patch 1.11: Shadow of the Necropolis. Players who complete the new quests obtained in Light's Hope Chapel will be able to gain superior and epic quality Armaments of the Dawn; and those willing to brave the terrors of Naxxramas will have the opportunity to learn new Craftsman Recipes!

Do you have friends or family who'd like to try World of Warcraft, but aren't sure if it's for them? If so, they can now preview World of Warcraft for 10 days, free of charge! To take advantage of this offer, please visit our new World of Warcraft Teaser website. From there, you can learn more about the features offered in World of Warcraft, watch interviews with players from all over Europe, and get a free 10 day trial key and download the game to begin playing!

At Blizzard, we receive lots of great fan art from our talented players. We publish the best of these selections regularly in our European Fan Art Gallery. Now we are introducing a new feature to the Fan Art Gallery: Interviews with Fan Artists! Our first interview is with Romain de Santi and can be found here.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Thunder Bluff.

We have just revamped the talent calculators, giving them a new look. Now you can view all three talent trees at once! This new layout will make planning various talent builds for your character much easier. Take a moment to check out the new layout here. Also, we have kept the old layout but have made improvements to the code, making it faster-loading. Check it out here!

The bestiary page for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has been updated with two new creatures from the upcoming expansion. Learn more about Fungal Giants, lumbering behemoths who wander throughout Zangarmarsh, feeding on the native swamp creatures and any hapless Lost Ones who come their way. Also, you read about the Ogre Lords, possessed of a combination of brute strength and intellect that makes them especially fearsome. Check out the updated bestiary now!

The Darkmoon Faire is in Elwynn forest this week. Visit the faire and sample the delicious food, exotic artifacts, strong drink and amazing prizes!

Take a look at our humorous streaming video of the Darkmoon Faire and gaze in wonder at the mysteries and rewards which await you!

Find the answers to all of your support questions about Blizzard games on our new support site! This site offers support for the complete range of Blizzard titles from Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft, to classics like The Lost Vikings and Rock'n Roll Racing.

Browse our FAQs or contact our support teams directly via our forums, web-form or phone support. Of course you can still find the answers to your World of Warcraft support questions and contact our support teams in our support section.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Stranglethorn Vale. We have also updated the European Blizzard Fan Art Gallery with two new pieces of art.

The day many have feared for years has finally come: the Scourge has launched a direct attack on the lands of Azeroth! Reports of necropolis sightings are coming in from all over the world, the massive structures looming ominously on the horizon, ready to move at Kel'Thuzad's command. A dreadful dawn is rising in the east as the Lich King's dark minions prepare to descend upon Azeroth. Soon the Scourge will march again, and this time there is no prophet to speak the warning, no gallant knight to fight the coming darkness, no legendary hero to thwart the monstrosity on the Frozen Throne.

Take a moment to learn more about this upcoming event by reading our new Invasion of the Scourge page!

The bestiary page for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has been updated with two new creatures from the upcoming expansion. Learn more about the deadly spore bats and their cousins, the spore walkers. These deadly creatures draw the ingredients for their deadly toxins from the environment, presenting a perilous risk to adventurers exploring the Zangarmarsh. Check out the updated bestiary now!

May 2006

We are happy to announce the winners of the Noblegarden contest! Congratulations to Ms. Warmbier, Mr. Zannettacci, and Mr. Wetzel! You can see their entries below, as well as our nine runners-up on our Noblegarden winners page!

  

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Rexxar.

The bestiary page for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has been updated with two new creatures from the upcoming expansion. Learn more about the ravagers, predatory beasts found throughout Outland, known and feared for their speed as well as their claws, and the crafty warp stalkers, rumored to be able to phase shift into almost any realm of existence. Check out the updated bestiary now!

Blizzard recently attended E3 in Los Angeles, California. The coverage included news about the expansion and impressions and interviews with lead game designers Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton, lead producer Shane Dabiri, senior game designer Scott Mercer and assistant game designer Kristen DeMeza.

• Gamespot UK gives their thoughts about the features, races, and areas that will be featured in The Burning Crusade.
• Yahoo! has an interview with Jeff Kaplan where he discusses some of what to expect in The Burning Crusade.
• Games Radar has an article detailing the history of the Draenei, the new Alliance race.
• VE3D has named World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade as the Best Expansion Pack.
• WorldofWar.net has an extensive interview with Scott Mercer. See part one and part two.
• BlueAlien.org has an audio interview with Kristen DeMeza.

We have just added the superior and epic PvP reward armor sets to our Armor Sets page. Now you can see the different looks for the Horde and the Alliance as well as the updated stats for these sets, gained only by going up ranks in the the PvP Honor System.

Additionally, the epic PvP sets will be automatically upgraded for players with the upcoming Shadow of the Necropolis patch. The superior sets will not be automatically upgraded and will have to be repurchased.

The public test realms are live! Players can now try out all the changes and additions coming in World of Warcraft’s latest content patch: Shadow of the Necropolis. The highlights of this patch include Naxxramas, a new world event, mage and shaman talent improvements and a host of other exciting features. Read the Shadow of the Necropolis test realm patch notes to learn more.

Players who had an active account as of 21:00 CEST Wednesday, May 17 can participate in the test realms by using one of the pre-made level 60 character which are available. To copy a character and download the test realm game client, visit our Public Test Realm Page.

Please be aware that the test realms are designed to allow us to test major content patches before they go public. Therefore, some changes may be introduced to the public test realms during the testing phase, before a patch goes live, and some changes may be introduced to the patch after the test realms have closed. To read more about the test realms, please review the Test Realm FAQ. We truly appreciate our players taking the time to help us test the latest changes to the game; thank you all!

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring The Forsaken.

Blizzard Europe is looking for enthusiastic and experienced gamers with excellent teamwork skills to join our Game Master, Technical Support and Billing teams and be part of Blizzard Entertainment Europe. You can learn more about working at Blizzard by visiting our Recruitment section and by reading A Game Master’s Life. We will also be regularly updating this forum thread, with answers to your recruitment questions.

If you think you are up to the challenge, take a look at our jobs page, read our Recruitment F.A.Q and then send in your C.V. with a cover letter!

The floating necropolis, Naxxramas, holds more than just new monsters and challenges for adventurers in Azeroth. It also brings many new armor sets; a new one for each class. Take a moment to preview these new sets by checking our armor sets page.

We have just added the Darkmoon Faire and the E3 2006 Gameplay trailers to our Downloads page. Take a minute to check out the games and prizes available at the Darkmoon Faire and to see the draenei in action!

Somewhere deep inside the cursed necropolis Naxxramas... Your raid cleared out the last group of monsters, and the only thing left are the two gates at the very end of the room. While the rest of your group drinks, heals up, and resurrects any players who fell during the last skirmish, you carefully approach the sealed doors. Suddenly the mighty gates fly open. A vast laboratory filled with all kinds of strange machinery lies before you, electric discharges and lightning painting the walls with jagged shadows. In the center of the room, you behold a gigantic creature unlike anything you (or any other player) has ever seen before...

The World of Warcraft Insider recently interviewed the World of Warcraft designers about Thaddius, one of their latest monstrosities (er, creations). This twisted, Frankensteinian boss haunts the halls of the new dungeon Naxxramas - introduced in the upcoming patch 1.11. Check out the article Anatomy of a Monster to learn how Thaddius was created.

The Noblegarden Contest ends this Saturday! If you would like to participate, please make certain to submit your entries before midnight on Saturday, May 20. To learn more about this contest, please read our Contest Terms and Conditions.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring a Shaman.

With the opening of E3 in Los Angeles today, several new pieces of information about the up-coming World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade, have been revealed. First among them are the details about the new Alliance race: the draenei. The draenei, also known as the "exiled ones," have joined the Alliance. You can learn more about this mysterious race by reading our Burning Crusade FAQ. We have also posted a new gameplay trailer, new screenshots, new artwork, and several new wallpapers, all featuring the draenei. Along with the information about the draenei, we have posted the history of the blood elves.

Last, but not least, we have published a new gameplay trailer featuring content from Naxxramas, a new raid dungeon coming in our next content patch: Shadow of the Necropolis. You can see some of the other changes coming up by checking our Under Development section.

We have just posted a sneak peak of the talent updates that will be featured as a part of our next major content patch, Shadow of the Necropolis. Take a moment to check out our special talent calculators and preview the upcoming mage and shaman talent changes and plan your future talent-builds!

Every spring, the inhabitants of Azeroth take time to give back to the ones who have lost the most in the wars: the orphans. During Children’s Week, brave adventurers can escort the orphans of Azeroth across the world to see places that their parents would have taken them to see. In return for this service, adventurers can earn cool rewards! To learn more about this event, check our Children's Week page.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Old Ironbark.

A lot has happened since the last Battleplan: Ahn’Qiraj and the war effort, new dungeon armor sets, paladin and priest talent reviews, weather effects, linked auction houses, and much more. Development of The Burning Crusade has also continued, with work on the new zones, quests, monsters, jewelcrafting, and flying mounts. In this latest Battleplan, Shane Dabiri, Lead Producer of World of Warcraft, discusses the improvements being made to the hardware and realms of World of Warcraft.

You can discuss the battleplan in this thread.

The product of the morbid experiments of the Lich King Ner’zhul, the necrosis caused by the undead plague was soon visible. Its first victims were the human inhabitants of Northrend, and, as the plague spread, it became apparent that this infernal disease afflicted humans far more than the other races and creatures of Azeroth. Was this an unintended aspect of Ner’zhul’s diabolical plan, or were humans the only intended targets of this terrible plague? Read the latest page of our World of Warcraft History Library.

The Blizzard Fan Art Hall of Heroes has been updated with two new pieces of artwork. Click on the images below to see the artwork in all its glory!

The 1st of May is a Labor Day holiday in France and working on this specific day is subject to tough legal restrictions. As a consequence, Blizzard Europe will be unable to provide support on Monday, May 1st. The realms will be available for play as usual but our Game Master and other support teams will be unable to respond to your queries.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your understanding.

In keeping with Blizzard’s aggressive stance against cheating in World of Warcraft, we have since the release of patch 1.10 banned over 3100 accounts for participating in activities that violate the game’s Terms of Use, including using third-party programs to farm gold and items. Such actions can severely impact the economy of a realm and the overall enjoyment of its players. Please note that selling World of Warcraft content such as gold, items, and characters can result in a permanent ban of the accounts involved, from World of Warcraft.

We will continue to aggressively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in Europe in order to protect the service and its players from players who seek to cheat. Many account closures come as the direct result of reports to our Game Masters in-game or emailed to hacks@blizzard.com by legitimate World of Warcraft players. If you suspect that a World of Warcraft player is using an illegal third-party program to farm gold or items, or is otherwise violating our Terms of Use, please report the suspected infraction via one of the means listed above. All reports will be investigated and those which prove false will not result in any action against the accounts reported.

Thank you for your continued support and good luck with your adventures in Azeroth!

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Naxxramas.

Floating above the Plaguelands, the necropolis known as Naxxramas serves as the seat of one of the Lich King's most powerful officers, the dreaded lich Kel'Thuzad. Horrors of the past and new terrors yet to be unleashed are gathering inside the necropolis as the Lich King's servants prepare their assault. Soon the Scourge will march again...

Learn more about the origin of Naxxramas and gaze upon some of the horrors which lie in wait in the Road to Damnation here...

A new and terrible army has been spawned from the hives beneath Ahn'Qiraj, and the ruined city is now teeming with swarming masses of silithid and qiraji. But this new silithid army is not the only threat lying in wait among the ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, as the horrors of an ancient past stir once again to heed their masters' call and bring war and destruction to Kalimdor and the rest of Azeroth.

Learn more about some of the most dangerous creatures of the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj on our new monsters pages!

• Anubisaths
• Moam
• Obsidian Destroyers
• Ossirian the Unscarred

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Stratholme.

On April 12th one of our hosting sites experienced an emergency shutdown caused by an unforeseen strike at a power company. As a consequence the realms affected were offline for several hours while our on-site technicians worked to bring them back online in the best possible condition. Due to this unexpected downtime, we will give one day of game time to players who had an active character on the affected realms, when the issue occurred. The game time will be credited within the next two weeks. A full list of the realms concerned can be found, here.

Additionally, the Burning Legion and Warsong realms have recently been affected by ongoing technical issues, which resulted in realm crashes and restarts. As a result of the inconvenience caused, we will give one day of game time to players who had an active character on these realms. The game time will be credited within the next two weeks.

The bestiary page for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has been updated with two new creatures from the upcoming expansion. Learn more about the Broken, loyal servants of Illidan the Betrayer, and the murderous rock flayers that stalk the Blade's Edge Mountains of Outland. Check out the updated bestiary now!

Spring is in the air; the birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and eggs will soon start appearing all over the place in Azeroth. Noblegarden will come in just a few days and, as part of the celebration, we are hosting an egg-painting contest. To enter, read the Terms and Conditions and check out this page about the contest. Then, simply paint an egg with a Warcraft theme, snap a digital picture of it, and submit the photograph to us. The three best egg-painters will win an Asus EN7600 GT graphics card!

This contest will begin on April 16, so get ready!

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring a Dragonkin.

The Blizzard Fan Art Hall of Heroes has been updated with two new pieces of artwork. Click on the images below to see the artwork in all its glory!

The expansion will introduce many new creatures to the game. From nightmares of the ancient past to creatures never before seen; all can be discovered in Outland and the still unexplored lands of Azeroth. To learn more about some of the beasts that will appear in the Burning Crusade, check out our new Bestiary page!

We have just updated our In Development section with information about the changes coming in the next content patch. If you want to know which class will have its talent tree updated or whether or not there will be a new dungeon, check out the In Development section! We will be adding more information about the features in the next patch in the coming weeks.

Following the opening of the new data center, new rounds of character migration are planned. To learn more about which realms will be eligible, please check this thread. Please note that the current migration plans are subject to change.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring a Scarlet Crusader.

A new World of Warcraft hosting site has been opened in Europe. The new site will host multiple game realms in English, French and German. The first eight realms will be launched today, with additional realms opening shortly thereafter.

Read the full media alert here.

We have just added several new screenshots from the up-coming World of Warcraft expansion: The Burning Crusade. You can view these new images here.

  

If you have ever been curious about the process involved in updating the talents for each class, now is your chance to find answers to those questions. We have just posted an interview with Lead Game Designer Tom Chilton about how he and his team make the decisions about which talents to update and why.

Take a moment to check out this interview here.

In a cunning attempt to take April Foolery to a new maximum, the Blizzard Joke Squad™ decided to shake things up this year by posting our jokes slightly ahead of schedule! Well, it was April Fool's day somewhere in the world... We hope you enjoyed our April Fool's events. In case you missed them, check out our jokes:

• BurgerCraft™
• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade - New Alliance Race: Wisps

The Blizzard Joke Squad™ will see you again next year.

We have just updated our Armor Sets page with the Tier 1 and 2 raid armor sets found in Onyxia's Lair, Molten Core, and Blackwing Lair. Now you can view the look and the stats for each of these high-end sets.

Due to a technical glitch, some of the information about the fan arts submitted to us from 01/01/2006 to 31/01/2006 has been lost. If you submitted a piece of fan art between those two dates, please resubmit it. We will be posting new European fan arts within the coming weeks. If you wish to have your piece considered, please submit it here.

Faced with the unknown dangers of the Outland the night elves have once again sounded the Horn of Cenarius, summoning the ancient spirits of the forests to aid the Alliance in their hour of need. Once thought purely benign, the wisps contain within them a part of the primal energy used to destroy the terrible eredar warlord, Archimonde. Deeply connected with the night elves, the wisps will do all in their power to protect their now mortal Kaldorei allies in the perilous lands beyond the Dark Portal. Capable of sacrificing themselves by unleashing their innate energy in a devastating detonation which wreaks havoc on their enemies, the wisps are sure to be valued allies in battle.

To learn more about this new race from the Burning Crusade, click here!

Following the growth of World of Warcraft, we are pleased to announce our latest business venture: World of Warcraft themed restaurants. The first of the World of Warcraft themed restaurants, named "BurgerCraft," will open on June 1, 2006 in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on the cuisine of Azeroth, it will offer intrepid adventurers the chance to sample such dishes as Red Dragon Wings, Zealot Fries and Frost Shock Smoothies! Learn more about BurgerCraft here!

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring a Dark Iron Dwarf.

The latest content patch has arrived: Storms of Azeroth! This patch includes a wealth of new features and content:

• New weather effects: The climate of Azeroth has been given new life with rain, blizzards and even sandstorms bearing down on those who dare brave the elements!
• New dungeon sets: Adventurers in Azeroth can now quest to upgrade their previous dungeon sets to new, higher-quality sets, which include epic gear and all-new boss encounters.
• Changes to high-level instances: The maximum number of players allowed inside many instances has been reduced and the items found inside the affected instances have been improved in quality and their drop-rates increased.
• Priest Talents update: The priest talents have undergone some significant changes, with the addition of some exciting new abilities!
• Flight paths: New flight paths have been added and travelers whose journey involves several jumps will now have the option to directly select their final destination.
• Level 60 quest rewards: Level 60 players can now obtain gold instead of experience when handing-in quests. New riches can be yours!
• Improvements to the user interface: Significant improvements have been made, which include changes to the reputation interface, with more detailed information and a new option for displaying reputation.

Read more about these and the other features implemented in Storms of Azeroth here.

Following some changes and improvements to the user interface in Storms of Azeroth (patch 1.10), some players may experience problems with their custom user interfaces. To help us offer the best service possible to our players, before contacting a Game Master, please ensure that any problems you may be experiencing are not related to a custom user interface.

If you are experiencing a problem which you believe may be related to your interface, please exit your game client and delete the “Interface” folder. The standard interface will then be automatically restored when you next load the game client.

For further information, please check the forum post located here.

Ever wondered what the high level armor sets look like? What their stats are? Then wonder no longer: the answers await you on our new Armor Set pages. Here you can view the various armor sets found in high-level dungeons and can see the stats and properties of each set piece. Take a moment to check them out! Also, you can view the stats and look of the new armor sets that will be included in the next content patch.

We will add more sets in the future so keep an eye on this page for updates!

Blizzard Europe is looking for enthusiastic, Spanish-speaking gamers with a passion for Blizzard games to join the web-editorial, localization and community teams and be part of Blizzard Entertainment Europe. If you have excellent Spanish and English language skills and you think you are up to the challenge, take a look at our jobs page, read our Recruitment F.A.Q and send in your C.V. with a cover letter!

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring a Bronze Dragon Hunt.

On the blasted world of Outland, within the heart of Hellfire Peninsula stands Hellfire Citadel, a nearly impenetrable bastion that served as the Horde’s base of operations throughout the First and Second Wars. For years this gargantuan fortress was thought to be abandoned...

Until recently.

To learn more about this particular area in the Outland, check out our Burning Crusade site. You can view images of Hellfire Citadel here.

We have just added a new page to our Game Guide: the Lords of the Dance page. Here you can see a part of the dances for each race.

If you've ever wondered about the tap-dancing tauren, here's your chance to actually see them in action!

Blizzard Europe is looking for enthusiastic, Spanish-speaking gamers, who also speak French, German, or English fluently and have a passion for Blizzard games and helping others, to join our Spanish Game Master team and be part of Blizzard Europe. Please visit our jobs page and read the job descriptions. If you think you are up to the challenge send in your CV and cover letter. You can learn more about what a Game Master's life entails here. Additionally, you may want to check this Recruitment F.A.Q.

What on Azeroth are you waiting for? Apply to Blizzard Europe now!

We're looking to test the new hardware, and we're jumping in ourselves to help! A team of Blizzard employees will be jumping into Warsong Gulch.

When: 17:00 to 20:00 CET (Game time) Monday, March 20th.
Where: Honor contest EU
Who: Community Team and guests

If you're looking to fight against Blizzard's crew, there's never been a better chance! Get leveling this weekend -- we'll be waiting in the Gulch!

We have just added a new wallpaper featuring artwork from the Burning Crusade. You can download this new wallpaper from our Burning Crusade site.

The World of Warcraft Movie contest sponsored by Xfire has come to a close. Over 120 entries were narrowed down to a handful of winners who were awarded $10,000 in prizes.

The main category award winners are:

• Illegal Danish Super Snacks – Best Comedy
• Billy Maclure – Best Dance
• Served Cold – Best Drama

Congratulations to all our winners! Click here to find out how to download and view the winning movies!

We have just added a new Events Calendar to the site that will let you know when to look for in-game events. Now you can know when to start looking for the Darkmoon Faire in your area, when weekly events will occur, as well as when the annual holidays, such as the up-coming Noblegarden event, Hallow's End, or the Feast of Winter Veil will begin. To learn more about the various events happening in-game, read here.

We have just added a new wallpaper featuring artwork from the Burning Crusade. You can download this new wallpaper from our Burning Crusade site.

Something sinister dwells within Ahn’Qiraj, something that gave even the mighty dragons pause when they led the night elven forces into the heart of the qiraji empire during the War of the Shifting Sands. For a thousand years, the magical barrier around the ancient fortress city has contained this threat; now, the fate of Kalimdor and all of Azeroth lies in the hands of the mortal races. Watch an enormous group of heroes from both the Alliance and the Horde gather before the Scarab Wall to face the coming darkness as one in this new gameplay trailer, which features footage of the gates of Ahn’Qiraj as they are reopened at last.

The World of Warcraft community team is pleased to announce the new Guild Relations program! This program is designed to strengthen player interaction within guilds and increase the level at which guilds are able to communicate with each other. The Guild Relations program will also serve as an excellent opportunity for players to promote their guilds and discuss items important to guild structure, such as guild management, systems, politics, and strategies.

Guilds wishing to become recognized in this program must show an active participation in community relations and prove themselves to be an established guild in World of Warcraft. All guilds accepted into this program will receive special recognition, including: a dedicated page on the WoW-Europe.com community website listing each guild in the program, details about each guild, the guild’s officers, and a link to each guild's website. In addition, these guilds will be able to participate in an upcoming beta test, chat live with Blizzard game designers, submit regular questions to be answered in Q&A updates posted in the Guild Relations forum, and more. For additional information on this program, please click here.

Hitting newstands around Azeroth once again is the latest, most informative and entertaining magazine in all of Azerothian history: the Gadgetzan Times! This month, Gadgetzan Times takes its readers into the mysterious world of the magi. Often confounding, frequently amusing, and always informative, the brave goblin reporters of the Gadgetzan Times bring you the latest and most comprehensive coverage of magi and magic!

Pick up your copy of the Gadgetzan Times today! If you want more, the goblins have published this magazine, with unique articles written especially for the English, French and German-speaking readers.

The public test realms are now live! Players can now try out all the changes and additions coming in content patch 1.10. The highlights of this patch include Priest class improvements, new dungeon armor sets, weather effects, and a host of other exciting features. View the 1.10 test realm patch notes here to learn more.

Players can participate in the test realms by choosing a pre-made level 60 character and copying it to the test realms. To choose and copy your character, please visit our Test Realm Character Copy page. The test realm game client, which can be downloaded at the same page, is available for both PC and Mac.

Please be aware that the test realms are designed to allow us to test major content patches before they go public. Therefore, some changes may be introduced to the public test realms during the testing phase or before a patch goes live, and some changes may be introduced to the patch after the test realms have closed. To read more about the test realms, please review the Test Realm FAQ.

We truly appreciate our players taking the time to help us test the latest changes to the game; thank you all!

Want to be one of the few players to experience World of Warcraft’s upcoming expansion pack before it goes live? Help us test content patch 1.10 on the designated "contest" test realms, and you could win a spot in the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade beta test!

At 09:01 CET on Tuesday, March 7, we will activate a special set of patch 1.10 test realms featuring three separate contests. If you’re in the mood for some competition, click here to learn about the contest details and instructions on how to enter.

However, if you’d like to get an even earlier look at the changes coming in patch 1.10 Storms of Azeroth, a non-contest public test realm should be available over the week-end. Click here for instructions on how to access this realm and check back regularly for the PTR launch announcement.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring an Undead Mage.

We are happy to announce the winners of the three One Year Anniversary contests. The winners of the Lore Contest are Ms. Bahar of Coventry, Mr. Faure from Seynod, and Mr. Zwisler from Stiefenhofen! Congratulations on winning the Dell PC! The Pick-up line contest winners are Mr. Jones from Fetcham, Mr. Sedman from Scarborough, Mr. Litchfield from Turnbridge Wells, Mr. Beasley of Taunton, and lastly, Mr. Kempster of Wokingham! Mr. Kempster charmed the night-elf druid with the following line:

"You druids meditate too much on the large animals like the bears and the wolves, why not relax a little and let me teach you about the birds and the bees instead?"

Congratulations to them! Finally, the winners of the "One Year of Loving World of Warcraft" fanart contest are Ms. Laaksonen from Sweden (One year of <3 - ing WoW with Firagah) and Mr. le Saux from France (Déjà 1 an... et tant de choses vécues). Two other entries were also chosen as winners. They are from Mr. Adams (For the Horde) and Mr. Augis (Vendetta).

Firagah

Déjà 1 an...

For the Horde!

Vendetta

Congratulations once again to all our winners!

Spinebreaker and Bladefist will be allowed to migrate to Mazrigos and Shadow Moon, respectively, on Thursday March 9th and Friday March 10th. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about this migration.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CET (GMT/UTC +1) each of the two days.

To recap the migrating realms:

Spinebreaker	–>	Mazrigos
Bladefist	–>	Shadow Moon

We are happy to announce that a Spanish version of World of Warcraft will be released. As with the existing German and French versions, the game will be localized by the Blizzard in-house localization team. The Spanish version of the game will be released and hosted in Europe and supported by a dedicated Spanish-speaking team based at the Blizzard Europe offices.

"We look forward to offering Spanish-speaking players in Europe a version of World of Warcraft tailored specifically for them," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "The enthusiasm for the game here has been overwhelming, and we're pleased that this new localized version will make World of Warcraft accessible to an even wider audience."

You can read the complete Press release in English and in Spanish. Read the English F.A.Q. here, and a Spanish version of the F.A.Q. is also available here.

We've implemented a new system that will disable character creation when a realm has a queue to better control realm populations. This system will disable character creation for accounts without characters on an individual realm when it has a queue. This will limit population growth on congested realms during peak hours and assist us in our efforts to provide a better overall gameplay experience for our players.

Please note that players with existing characters on a queued realm will still be able to create characters, and during off hours when there is not a queue all players may create characters as normal.

The Warcraft Lore, Fan-Art, and Pick-Up Line contests all ended this weekend. The participation in the contests was amazing and we are currently evaluating the last few submissions. Thank you to everyone who took part in the contests! The winners will be announced within the coming days.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring For the Light.

We have just posted a sneak peak of the Priest Talent changes that will be featured alongside many other improvements in our next major content patch, Storms of Azeroth. So, take a moment to check out our special Priest Talent Calculator to see what changes you might want to plan for your priest. Additionally, all priests will have their talents reset when the patch is released.

Congratulations to our fourth winner of the pick-up line contest, Mr. Beasley from Taunton. Going off this scenario -- A Tauren shaman has been trying to sell a not-completely-skillfully-made set of leather leggings. You can tell that she's really upset by what people are saying about her crafting. What would you say to cheer her up? -- he charmed the tauren shaman with the following pick-up line:

"I'll take those leggings. Just like me, they're a bit rough around the edges but full of spirit and have loads of stamina."

Congratulations again to our winner of the fourth iPod and thanks to everyone else who participated. Our next scenarios, running from February 23rd until February 25th, are now available here.

Shrouded in mystery, the murlocs have shunned mortals, congregating in shoreline tribes and villages. Far older than most believe, some evidence suggests that their steady encroachment of the world's land masses may be a coordinated effort which belies their reputation as unintelligent creatures.

Could it be that the recent emergence of the murlocs and naga from their water abodes is evidence of the awakening of far more terrible monstrosities in the murky fathoms? Learn more...

Congratulations to our third winner of the pick-up line contest, Mr. Litchfield from Tunbridge Wells. Going off this scenario -- A cute night elf rogue bungles an attempt to lighten your purse. What would you say to him to take the pressure off and convince him that there are better things to steal? -- he charmed the night elf rogue with the following pick-up line:

"Getting into my coffers would have been a lot easier if you'd bought me a mug of ale first."

Congratulations again to our winner of the third iPod and thanks to everyone else who participated. Our next scenarios, running from February 20th until February 22nd, are now available here.

Now is your chance to become a member of Blizzard! We are recruiting a Linux Web-Administrator for our Information Systems department. If you are a highly motivated individual with strong knowledge of Linux based platforms, you can learn more about this and the other positions open at Blizzard here.

We have two noobs this week:

A Noobs Tale is a standalone page with quite a fascinating story.

The Noob tells us what it's like to turn into a quest item, well, sort of..

WorldofWar.net have their own Forum Watch, don't miss out: get the latest one here.

Be careful whom you offer a Valentine's token. Some creatures might be skeptical. Or even hurt...

Armor: fashion item or fashion victim? Ctrl-Alt-Del start the discussion. You decide for yourself.

On Azzor you will find the latest edition of the WoW Economist Vol. I, No. 2.

Have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Druid forms.

Congratulations to our second winner of the pick-up line contest, Mr Sedman from Scarborough. He charmed the gnomish warrior with the following pick-up line:

"If there's one thing I've learned from my studies in engineering, it's that dynamite never ever comes in large packages."

Congratulations again to our winner of the second iPod and thanks to everyone else who participated. Our next scenarios are now available here.

The Black Dragonflight. The mere mention of its name is enough to strike fear in the hearts of even the bravest adventurers. The cunning black dragon and undisputed ruler of his flight, Nefarian, has begun to unfold the final stages of his sinister plan to lead his army to supremacy over all the races of Azeroth. Now, watch a courageous band of heroes challenge Nefarian in his own sanctum at the very height of Blackrock Spire in this latest gameplay trailer of Blackwing Lair! The new trailer is available in our movies section.

One year ago today, World of Warcraft launched in Europe. Since that date, we have passed many milestones, added several dungeons and lots of content. In honor of this occassion, Shane Dabiri, the lead producer for World of Warcraft, has written a letter to the European community. You can read his letter here.

Congratulations to our first winner of the pick-up line contest, Mr Jones from Fetcham. He charmed the female warlock with the following pick-up line:

"I can see from looking at you that you're just like me, looking for another soul to call your own."

Congratulations again to our winner of the first iPod and thanks to everyone else who participated. Our next scenarios are now available here.

Something is in the air in the major cities of Azeroth. Some call it love, and some just call it friendship and admiration. Whichever it is, many guards and townsfolk now spend their days giving and receiving tokens and gifts to other amorous citizens. The more skeptical, however, are suspicious of the strange "love sickness" clouding the hearts of so many...

Don't miss the exciting gift exchange and worldwide popularity contest soon to hit Azeroth when love is in the air!

One year ago today, World of Warcraft launched in Europe. Since that date, we have passed many milestones, added several dungeons and lots of content. In honor of this occassion, Shane Dabiri, the lead producer for World of Warcraft, has written a letter to the European community. You can read his letter here.

We are happy to announce that, in honor of one year of World of Warcraft in Europe, we are running the following contests:

• A Warcraft Lore Contest

If you're a Warcraft lore buff, this contest is for you! Just answer a few questions about Warcraft lore and you will have a chance to win a Dell XPS PC! Please read the Terms and Conditions first.

• A Fan Art Contest

If you like to draw, then here's your chance to win a 6800 GT graphics card from Nvidia! Just send in one of your art works with the theme "One Year of Loving World of Warcraft" to participate! Terms and Conditions here.

• A World of Warcraft Pick-up Line Contest

If you were to hit on a World of Warcraft character, what would you say? Every three days, we will announce two scenarios; pick one of them and send in your pick-up line! The best pick-up lines in each language will receive a customized iPod. You can find the Terms and Conditions here.

The first scenarios, open from February 11 until midnight on February 13 are:

A debonair Undead warlock walks into the inn and glides across the room. According to the gossip you've heard about her, she's a bit on the cool side, even for a corpse. What would you say to her to try to warm her heart enough so that she'd go out to dinner with you?

A rather handsome Human Paladin is sitting over by the bar drowning his sorrows. You've overheard that he and his long-time sweetheart have parted company. What would you say to him to try to take his mind off her and put it on you?

If you are interested in participating in any of these contests, you can read more about them on our One Year Anniversary Contest Page!

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring an Undead Rogue.

When the Titans first descended on Azeroth, vanquishing the Old Gods and bringing order to the world, the Highfather of the Pantheon himself empowered the great dragon Nozdormu with some of his own cosmic powers, enabling the dragon to guard time itself and police the ever-spinning pathways of fate and destiny. Ever since then, Nozdormu's Brood has guarded the timestream from all who would seek to disrupt its flow, guided by the Timeless One's wise, all-knowing counsel...

You can now learn more about the Brood of Nozdormu and discover the riches awaiting those who aid them in their fight against the Qiraji at our new faction rewards pages.

Now is your chance to become a member of Blizzard! We are recruiting for our English, French and German-speaking World of Warcraft Game Master Teams. If you are a highly motivated individual with excellent communication skills you should take a look at life on the GM Island. You can learn more about these and other positions open at Blizzard here.

Hitting newstands around Azeroth is the latest, most informative and entertaining magazine in all of Azerothian history: the Gadgetzan Times! Published by Sparkle Entertainment Lightning & Fireworks, the Gadgetzan Times will bring the far reaches of the world right to your doorstep. From the Plaguelands to Tanaris, and everywhere in-between, the hard-working goblins will be filing their reports and interviews with the head office, leaving no stone unturned in their quest for interesting, provocative, humorous, or just plain quirky stories. Ever enterprising, the goblins have published this magazine, with unique articles written especially for the English, French and German-speaking readers.

Pick up your copy of the Gadgetzan Times today!

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring a Dragon hunt.

Patch 1.10: Armor Set Information

Patch 1.10: Different languages in general channels

Some Blizzard software updates, read it here.

"It's just a scratch". Holy Grail re-enactment on Moonglade is 'in the works'.

Warcraft Weekly, Episode Twenty Six!

Fear and Loathing in Azeroth. Nuff said, really.

A Noobs Tale - In two (of three?) parts.

Druid PvE Healing Guide.

Rite of Passage - a movie about Blackwing Lair.

New Epic Mount 10.000g cost it will. Hunters, princesses and one green guy.

The Snap Sisters - Stormy Fashion - episode 1

Links on this news post may expire over time.

Congratulations to the guild Armada on the French realm, Kael'Thas! Yesterday, alongside the rest of their realm, they have collected the four pieces of the Scepter of the Shifting Sands, reassembled it, and gathered the resources needed for the war against the Qiraji. They have rung the gong, opened the Gate, and defeated the Qiraji forces in the desolate desert of Silithus. You can view screenshots of the opening of the gates here. Congratulations to all once more!

Yesterday we published our new High Level Options page. On that topic you might also want to check out GameSpy's page about World of Warcraft at 60.

WoW.Azzor.com has updated their Molten Core guide to cover Gehennas, Garr and Shazzrah.

WoW Azzor.com also now hosts Rogue Equip, a fun tool for dressing up your Rogue in that dream outfit (no, not that one, the other one). While at the site you might also want to check out episode 6 of The Third Faction.

Balnir on Argent Dawn has created a test to find out how well you know the World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft Romania has published two guides for Mages: an equipment guide and a talent guide.

WorldofWar.net has updated their unofficial WoW FAQ and put their fan art gallery back online.

Ever wondered how the music for a game like World of Warcraft is put together? German website working-title has posted an interview with Jason Hayes, lead composer for the World of Warcraft soundtrack.

Finally, Penny Arcade would like to remind you to ask 'is this night elf really who I think she is?'.

Have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Blasted Lands.

Finally gotten to level 60 and wondering what's left to do? If so, take a moment to check out our new High Level Options page and see what life beyond 60 holds for you. Additionally, you can learn more about the high level dungeons found throughout Azeroth and the various in-game events that you can participate in.

To accommodate for the growth of the European World of Warcraft community, we will open five new realms tomorrow, Wednesday January 25th. These realms are "fresh" realms and will be opened without migration at this time.

The English realms that will be opened on Wednesday are Scarshield Legion (RP PvP) and Xavius (PvP).

Anvilbeard's Warcraft Weekly continues with episode 25!

The Rogue class concerns thread is up, with an accompanying discussion thread.

Somebody's trying to figure out exactly how threat works.

An Engineering guide can be found on the Professions forum.

Some official information on Thunderfury.

Draw your character, or just check out what others have contributed.

Moonglade players might want to check out the Cogwheel Clothing Awards! Be quick if you want to participate.

The recommended realms list on the Newcomers Forum has been updated again.

Want to see a specific thread here next week? Nominate it!

Links on this news post may expire over time.

Once a year, the druids of Moonglade open their doors to all in celebration of their city's great triumph over an ancient evil, Omen. During the days of the fest, Omen begins to stir again, giving peoples of all races and levels of experience a chance to participate in the battle themselves. Celebrants can also join in the fun by honoring their elders, remembering their wisdom, feasting, and shooting off fireworks! Learn more about this festival at our new Lunar Festival page.

As part of our ongoing effort to keep World of Warcraft free from abuse and to combat those seeking to compromise the gaming experience of others; we have recently permanently banned over five thousand game accounts. We operate a zero tolerance policy for proven hackers/cheaters including those involved in the selling of gold and items on our realm for real money, and we will continue to take the strongest action possible to maintain the integrity of the game environment for our players. Should you wish to report someone you believe to be involved in actions which contravene our Terms of Use and policies you can submit a GM ticket in-game or alternatively supply this information to WoWAccountReviewEU@blizzard.com.

Update January 20th:This migration is mainly to relieve the very long queues on Crushridge, and the destination realm will be brand new. To ensure that the destination realm is filled up we're also including Ravencrest in this first week and a half of migration, and may allow more realms to migrate to the new realm over time.

Note that migration will not be running on Saturdays and Sundays, and probably not on Wednesdays.

Crushridge	–>	To be announced
Ravencrest	–>	To be announced

Update January 17th: Due to technical issues it’s unlikely that any migration will be possible today. As a result of this the schedule for migration to Trollbane and Mazrigos has been changed to Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th of January. We apologise for any inconvenience this change may cause.

Update January 16: Migration to Trollbane and Mazrigos has now opened and will run today and tomorrow, January 16th and 17th. Migration to Talnivarr and Emeriss will be open Thursday 19th and Friday 20th. We apologise for the dates changing and will reopen the migration to Trollbane and Mazrigos Monday January 23rd with the option to extend it to Tuesday 24th depending on population numbers on the destination realms. We’ll also consider reopening migration to Talnivar and Emeriss at a later date.

Update January 10th: Due to the number of players migrating characters to Drak’thul, migration to this realm has been closed today. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and wish to remind you to stay updated on this thread for important messaging regarding the ongoing migration.

We're moving on with the character migration to alleviate long queues and fill up low-populated realms. Here's the current schedule for English realm migration for January 2006.

Phase 10: January 9th to 13th

Zenedar	–>	Drak'Thul
Shadow Moon	–>	Drak'Thul
Argent Dawn	–>	Steamwheedle Cartel*
Earthen Ring	–>	Steamwheedle Cartel*

*) Migration to Steamwheedle Cartel might be delayed one week. For now, please consider it running January 9th to 13th. We'll let you know as soon as the date is 100% confirmed.

January 16th, 17st, 23rd (and possibly 24th)
This is a re-run of the migration that was open December 5th to 9th 2005, because of great difficulties with the account management page at the time.

Bloodscalp	–>	Trollbane
Burning Blade	–>	Trollbane
Daggerspine	–>	Mazrigos
Stormreaver	–>	Mazrigos

January 19th to 20th
This is a re-run of the migration that was open December 12th to 16th 2005, because of great difficulties with the account management page at the time.

Deathwing	–>	Talnivarr
Stormscale	–>	Talnivarr
Bladefist	–>	Emeriss
Kor'gall	–>	Emeriss

Note that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about the migration.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CET (GMT/UTC +1) each day. We might choose to not allow migration on Wednesdays, due to the additional load when a huge amount of players login after the maintenance.

We have a new community web form where you can submit anything you feel could be included on this weekly news update. You can also use the web form to submit your fan site to apply for the fan site program. We'd also like for you to submit your guild site for our growing list. It's a bit hard to find absolutely all of you without a little help. ;)

WoW Radio has a new show! The name is EndGame and the host is Tyrrum. For information about this and other shows, check their shows page.

WorldofWar.net has several new player journals up. They've also updated their guides section to include picture uploading, and Ripperjack has provided a quick guide for the solo player. The transportation guide has also been updated, and the database section has been updated with a WWNData FAQ.

Panda Hideout has updated their talent calculator with the latest changes. They also cover an... interesting loot system theory.

WoWi.dk received some very nice wallpapers through their competition. World of Denmark next?

Warcraft World.dk is now named WoWFan.dk and has posted an update news.

And to round this week's news off, WorldofWar.se has a poll up simply asking whether you'll buy the expansion or not.

Have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Zul'Gurub.

Located on the dusty plains of Silithus and in the verdant forests of Moonglade, the Cenarion Circle waits for those who prove their dedication in the fight against the Qiraji. To learn more about the rewards these outdoorsmen can offer, check out our new Cenarion Circle page and our Cenarion Rewards page.

World of Warcraft has surpassed the one million customer milestone in Europe, more than quadrupling the previously estimated size of the entire European MMORPG market since its launch in February 2005. To learn more, please read this press release.

We are happy to announce the winners of our Christmas Decoration Contest! Congratulations to Ilsebilse on Blackmoore, Justas on Sen'Jin, and Kida on Dalaran who have won six free months of game-time. Congratulations also to Styx on Medivh, Gnomer on Kor'gall, and Morq on Ravencrest who have won three free months of game-time. You can view the winning entries here.

Warcraft Weekly, Episode Twenty Four!

Horde on Tour, a Level 1 raid on Stormwind. Who would have thought they'd actually make it?

Where in the World (WoW Quiz)...
Ten quizzes with one in-game image each. Try and work out what zone the image was taken in: WoW Quiz.

RP Force Roleplay Alliance: An organithation hath been formeth to thtrengthen and uniteth the communitieth of Azeroth! Let all from Allianthe and Horde alike join and take part in forming a thtrong and united community!

While you're waiting for your Battleground to start, here is some Off-Topic video footage.

Queen - WoW Style! All new lyrics, check it out here.

The Forum Poster Hugger - Part Something. This darn thing just won't go away. :)

Stormina Teacup is hosting the tri-annual Cogwheel Clothing Awards. Don't miss out.

Overpoweredness for the win! Blizzard really overdid it with Warstomp (and what else?)

Old-School Super-Dungeon, sounds a bit like Diablo. :)

*Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Update January 17th: Due to technical issues it’s unlikely that any migration will be possible today. As a result of this the schedule for migration to Trollbane and Mazrigos has been changed to Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th of January. We apologise for any inconvenience this change may cause.

Update January 16: Migration to Trollbane and Mazrigos has now opened and will run today and tomorrow, January 16th and 17th. Migration to Talnivarr and Emeriss will be open Thursday 19th and Friday 20th. We apologise for the dates changing and will reopen the migration to Trollbane and Mazrigos Monday January 23rd with the option to extend it to Tuesday 24th depending on population numbers on the destination realms. We’ll also consider reopening migration to Talnivar and Emeriss at a later date.

Update January 10th: Due to the number of players migrating characters to Drak’thul, migration to this realm has been closed today. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and wish to remind you to stay updated on this thread for important messaging regarding the ongoing migration.

We're moving on with the character migration to alleviate long queues and fill up low-populated realms. Here's the current schedule for English realm migration for January 2006.

Phase 10: January 9th to 13th

Zenedar	–>	Drak'Thul
Shadow Moon	–>	Drak'Thul
Argent Dawn	–>	Steamwheedle Cartel*
Earthen Ring	–>	Steamwheedle Cartel*

*) Migration to Steamwheedle Cartel might be delayed one week. For now, please consider it running January 9th to 13th. We'll let you know as soon as the date is 100% confirmed.

January 16th, 17st, 23rd (and possibly 24th)
This is a re-run of the migration that was open December 5th to 9th 2005, because of great difficulties with the account management page at the time.

Bloodscalp	–>	Trollbane
Burning Blade	–>	Trollbane
Daggerspine	–>	Mazrigos
Stormreaver	–>	Mazrigos

January 19th to 20th
This is a re-run of the migration that was open December 12th to 16th 2005, because of great difficulties with the account management page at the time.

Deathwing	–>	Talnivarr
Stormscale	–>	Talnivarr
Bladefist	–>	Emeriss
Kor'gall	–>	Emeriss

Note that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about the migration.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CET (GMT/UTC +1) each day. We might choose to not allow migration on Wednesdays, due to the additional load when a huge amount of players login after the maintenance.

We have just added a new feature to the site: World of Warcraft themed e-cards! Now you can send World of Warcraft holiday cards to your friends online. To do so, just go to our E-card page, fill out the form, and send it off to your friends! We will be adding more themes and styles as the year progresses, so check back often to see what we've added!

Christmas has come and gone but you still have a chance to get a 20€ rebate! If you have not received this offer, please check to be certain that your email address is listed correctly in Account Management and check any junk or spam folders you may have. If you did not receive the offer, please contact our support department via this webform.

We are happy to announce the addition of a new community section! In this section you will find all of the latest community news, contests and information about our fan-sites. Enjoy! We have also just added a fan-art gallery for our European artists. Submit your very own fan-art here.

BlizzPlanet recently held a Q&A with Upper Deck Entertainment to discuss the upcoming World of Warcraft Trade Card Game 2006 (TCG).
You'll find the transcript here.

BlizzPlanet also has a Movie Contest which offers 4 World of Warcraft RPG Corebook ruleset ebooks and GameCam Registration Codes to winners.

Panda Hideout has a new poll: Paladins talents after patch 1.9, what do you think?

Fun fun! On GU Comics you'll find out why having mounts in UnderCity is actually a good thing.
Also, going in head first can be a good idea, using ancient viking artifacts and loads of aspirin.

Pick up group or pick up booze? More Adventures of Blanc.

The Noob finds out that you don't need the Deeprun Tram to have a good time, but why is he scared...

Have a good weekend, everyone!

*Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Sylvanas Windrunner.

The transfer of eight realms to a different data centre has been completed and the involved data centres have been brought back online. Everything is reported in working order, so you'll find your realm just as you left it but with improved performance due to less load on each backend system. Please do keep in mind that the number of players trying to access the realms is likely to make authentication slow for the first hour or two.

Weekly Honor calculations were run before the transfers began, ensuring your ratings were updated based on the last week’s endeavours. All instance IDs have been reset.

We once again thank you for your patience and support while we continue working on other planned improvements to address the performance issues and provide you the best online gaming experience.

To improve the overall performance of our European platform we will relocate the following Realms to a different data centre during today’s regular maintenance: Arthas, Azshara, Blackmoore, Blackrock, Gilneas, Kargath, Khaz’goroth, and Lothar. As a safety precaution, the realms listed in this thread will also be taken off-line while this data transfer takes place.

All players with an active character on the affected realms will be receiving a two-day game time extension. Also, players with an active character on the realms that have experienced performance issues recently will be receiving an additional two-day time extension to a total of four days time extension. You can read more about this platform migration here.

During this morning's maintenance, patch 1.9.1 was added, fixing some connection problems and some other issues. The patchnotes have been updated with the latest information on what was changed during this morning's maintenance.

Warcraft Weekly, Episode Twenty Three!

Discover and share the Famous last words in WoW before A battle

Patch 1.9 issues compiled and updated

Your favourite joke about or including Warcraft

Where do you take your girl for a romantic evening out? (Role-Playing)

And last but certainly not least, if you find a really good post on the forums you can now nominate it for next week's Forum Watch.
You can do so here. But keep in mind: Constructive, constructive, constructive!

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

We have just added three new screenshots from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

Update January 10th: Due to the number of players migrating characters to Drak’thul, migration to this realm has been closed today. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and wish to remind you to stay updated on this thread for important messaging regarding the ongoing migration.

We're moving on with the character migration to alleviate long queues and fill up low-populated realms. Here's the current schedule for English realm migration for January 2006.

Phase 10: January 9th to 13th

Zenedar	–>	Drak'Thul
Shadow Moon	–>	Drak'Thul
Argent Dawn	–>	Steamwheedle Cartel*
Earthen Ring	–>	Steamwheedle Cartel*

*) Migration to Steamwheedle Cartel might be delayed one week. For now, please consider it running January 9th to 13th. We'll let you know as soon as the date is 100% confirmed.

January 20th to 21st
This is a re-run of the migration that was open December 5th to 9th 2005, because of great difficulties with the account management page at the time.

Bloodscalp	–>	Trollbane
Burning Blade	–>	Trollbane
Daggerspine	–>	Mazrigos
Stormreaver	–>	Mazrigos

January 23rd to 24th
This is a re-run of the migration that was open December 12th to 16th 2005, because of great difficulties with the account management page at the time.

Deathwing	–>	Talnivarr
Stormscale	–>	Talnivarr
Bladefist	–>	Emeriss
Kor'gall	–>	Emeriss

Note that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about the migration.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CET (GMT/UTC +1) each day. We might choose to not allow migration on Wednesdays, due to the additional load when a huge amount of players login after the maintenance.

A new danger looms over both the Horde and the Alliance. The Qiraji threat, once thought sealed away, is rising, preparing to sweep over Kalimdor and Azeorth: no place is safe. To counter this new threat, members of both the Horde and Alliance must gather enough supplies to stock and maintain an army against the Qiraji who threaten to overwhelm any force. Who will be the first to gather enough supplies and complete the trials that will open the gates of Ahn'Qiraj? Keep track on our new Ahn'Qiraj War Effort page!

How is the Ahn'Qiraj war effort going for everyone? Here you can find the Ahn'Qiraj War Supplies Server Ranking.

On World of War.net has updated some must-have sections:

• The Dark Library, for all your dark literary desires.
• Those much wanted AddOns.
• Forum move, make sure to read it.

WoWi.dk recently hosted a Wallpaper contest. Find some of the winning Wallpapers here.
Furthermore, if you are a Danish guild you can now have a free forum, simply contact WoWi.dk and have your very own forum in your very own style!

Woody over at GU comics has some creative ideas about trinket books (among other things) comments:

• Holy Bologna: What The Light Won't Tell You
• Talent Tree updates (or not): Woody's Hate-mail.
• Prices have been soaring; so many players putting much (War) Effort into it!

Have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Forsaken Racial Shield.

Take a look at our updated Battlegrounds Rewards pages with the latest rewards and a new, more helpful, layout. We have also updated our flight map for the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj patch. You can view the updated pages below:

• Arathi Basin Rewards
• Alterac Valley Rewards
• Warsong Gulch Rewards
• Flight Map

We are happy to announce the release of our latest content patch: the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. Please take a moment to read the patch notes to see the changes implemented in this patch. If you wish to read up on the features included, you can view them here:

• Ahn'Qiraj - Two new raid dungeons await challengers in the shifting sands of Silithus. However, first, the Gates must be opened...
• Paladin Talent updates - A revamp of the Paladin class.
• New armor sets - A new look for all classes.
• Linked auction houses - Trade from almost anywhere!

Adventurers who wish to learn more about the effort against the Qiraji should read this new page. Additional information about the War of the Shifting Sands is available here.

We have just added a new interactive feature: a Raid Calendar. With this new tool, you will be able to determine when to schedule raids into the major dungeons as well as to know when to expect these to be reset. Take a moment to check it out!

Warcraft Weekly, Episode Twenty Two!

GM for a day. What would YOU do?

Updated: Recommended Realms to play on. Find it here.

If you like fooling around, with your UI that is, you might want to zoom by New Rate My Interface.

And on an Off-topic note, girl advice wanted. To dine or not to dine, that was the question. Now, what happened?! We want to know!

*Links on this news post may expire over time.